By: Crystal and Jason Melendez
So, what makes a wedding website anyway, and do you really need one? You may have the opinion that even if you do get a fun kick out of it, the time and money you put towards some online collection of bells and whistles could be better spent elsewhere… like planning your wedding. Well, we’re going to show you how a wedding website can be one of the most helpful assets you can have when planning your big day, and why it’s a major cornerstone in our e-Planning strategy. And for those of you who think your options are limited to cheesy templates, expensive custom jobs, or time consuming build-it-yourself-from-scratch projects, think again.
Today’s wedding websites are slick, beautiful, and powerful services, and you can have yours up and live on the web in just minutes, for little or no cost at all. The sooner you get yours going, the more of a benefit you’ll get, so put this convenient and time-saving e-Resource to work for you right away.
What It Is
Your personal wedding website will be a lot more than just a quick splash-screen with your wedding date and a picture of your smiling mugs bordered with flowers or hearts. A good wedding site is professional, just as customized and beautiful as the rest of your wedding details, and packed with convenient features. Your guests will get instant, 24/7 access to your gift registries, RSVP manager, maps and directions, photo albums, video clips and event calendar. Your website will be a centralized source of information for your
checklists, guest database, address book, budget manager and payment tracker. And, you’ll be able to manage it from anywhere you have Internet access.
What It Can Do for You
A wedding website can be a tremendous help during your planning and a fun way to manage all the details together. The other beneficiary of this technological convenience? Your guests! Here are a few examples of the benefits your own website will afford you:
Keep in Touch
Is your guest list or bridal party scattered across the country or even the world? No problem. Forget the costly long distance bills: a wedding website is a globally accessible place to exchange ideas, provide information, share photos, and discuss plans for the big day. Got any big announcements, changes in plans, or news on upcoming events? Let everyone know by including the info on your website.
Inform Your Guests
As the wedding day draws near, the questions will start rolling in. “How do I get to the church?”…”Can I change my dinner choice from fish to beef?”…”What’s the hotel reservation block number again?”…you get the idea. Without a wedding website, expect your phone to be ringing off the hook, along with your sanity. Having a resource to point everyone towards is going to save you more than a few gray hairs as you scramble to take care of last minute details. Plus, it just makes it easy and more convenient for your guests to have an informative spot to pull maps, directions, reservation info, and more. As an example, the online RSVP update is a hassle-free way for them to inform you of changes in meal choice or number attending
without having to track you down by phone.
Manage and Organize Your Planning
Building your guest list online—or creating it offline and importing it—results in a conveniently searchable database of contact information. It also keeps their RSVP information, gift records, birthdays, correspondence history and more, all in one place. No need to hunt through notes or make phone calls to get the latest scoop on your guests; it’s all available in one easy spot. Even after the wedding is long over, having such a dynamic and convenient directory of information for all your friends and relatives is
something you can continue to use to send and track thank-you notes, holiday cards or arrange future events and get-togethers. But your guest information isn’t the only thing you’ll have in one place here. Your website is also an organized source of vendor contacts, events and deadlines, payment schedules, music lists, photo collections…and more. Consolidating it all to a single location that can be accessed 24/7 from anywhere you have an Internet connection is a convenient, headache-saving asset you’ll come to love and appreciate. And when you need to have your info to go, most features allow you to generate reports and other printer-friendly take-alongs.
Involve the Groom
While the groom-to-be may not be thrilled about selecting bridesmaids’ dress colors or choosing the right floral centerpieces, building a wedding website together is a fun way for you both to be involved in the planning process. He can add his own version of how the two of you met and enter bios for the groomsmen and his family. If he’s more technically inclined than his bride-to-be, the groom can take charge scanning (or uploading) the photos, maps, and other additions. We know of couples who, for various reasons, were geographically separated throughout much of the planning period and their wedding website was the primary way for both to keep abreast of the details the other was managing.
Preserve the Memories
Have you thought about creating your “planning album”, a collection of photos that will preserve this exciting and emotional time in your life for years to come? Your wedding website, in fact, is a great place to display this album online. But the website itself is more of a keepsake of your wedding and your planning days than any album could be. With all its photos, guest book entries, message boards, notes, informative pages and lists, it’s a detailed scrapbook that captures all facets of your wedding planning journey. In fact, many couples choose to “evolve” their wedding website into a family, baby, or travel website after their wedding. Others opt to save it away on a CD. Whatever you choose, your wedding website can live on as a great keepsake long after the big day.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Crystal and Jason Melendez are the authors of e-Plan Your Wedding:
How to Save Time and Money with Today’s Best Online Resources.
For more information, please visit
http://www.eplanyourwedding.com
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